Designers and art lovers have rallied together to raise more than £15,000 to save a Shoreditch art gallery from permanent closure.
Kemistry Gallery launched a campaign on the crowd funding website Kickstarter on 30 October in order to raise funds for new premises. Thanks to an extensive social media campaign, the gallery today met its target – two days before the deadline.
Earlier this year, the gallery faced a crisis when the owners realised that they were going to have to move from their Charlotte Road site following the expiry of their 10-year lease.
Due to the increase in property prices in the area over the last decade, Kemistry cannot afford to renew the contract.
Property prices in Hackney have risen by more than 800 per cent in nearly 30 years, according to a survey by estate agent Stirling Ackroyd.
“When we realised that we had to move, our first thought was: ‘That’s it, it’s over’,” said Graham McCallum, Kemistry’s founder.
“We really want to stay in the East End,” Mr McCallum said. “The gallery is part of the area’s identity.”
Keen supporter and industry bigwig Mark Bonner, of the design award body D&AD, said: “I think London really does need and deserve a place like the Kemistry Gallery and it would be an absolute tragedy if it came to an end.”
The money raised by the Kickstarter drive matches a £15,000 grant given to the gallery by the Arts Council, and will fund a large pop-up exhibition planned for February 2015. This show will include the works of around 60 designers and will in turn act as a fundraiser for the gallery’s new home.
“The plan is to celebrate 10 years of Kemistry Gallery in this pop-up show by bringing together all the artists who have exhibited here over the past decade,” said Kemistry’s manager Matthew Dent.
Undeterred by the change in circumstances, the gallery is using this opportunity as something of a springboard.
“It’s not negative at all; we’re now looking for a really good space where we can have a gallery, a shop, a café, a lecture space,” said Mr McCallum.
A number of leading figures from the design world have backed the gallery’s project including the magazine It’s Nice That and the writer Rick Poynor.
“We’ve got a lot of good support from people who aren’t necessarily well known – but that’s part of what we’re doing. People like Tracey Emin are household names and yet designers aren’t,” McCallum continued.
“When we first started here, we got a local guy to make the sign outside and that sign hasn’t been switched off for 10 years. We’re now planning to have a ceremonial switching off.”
